Statesmen, Scoundrels, and Eccentrics: A Gallery of Amazing Arkansans

Gov. George Izard

Gov. George Izard Territorial Governor George Izard should have been a good governor forArkansas.He was well educated,honest,and strong willed.Arkansas’s second territorial governor,Izard worked hard to bring order and development to frontier Arkansas. Though he ultimately failed, he was a stabilizing force in a tiny western jurisdiction, where the politicians were famed for killing each other in duels. Izard was born October ,,in London,England,where his parents were living temporarily.The family name was pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable.His father was a wealthy South Carolina businessman, diplomat, and member of the Continental Congress and later U.S.senator.Izard was one of twelve children.The family relocated to Paris in ,as London became an unsafe place for colonials of dubious loyalty. Without a doubt, Izard was one of the better-educated governors in Arkansas history.He had the kind of education that a family of great wealth and power could offer its offspring. Wes Goodner of Little Rock, a keen student of Governor Izard and author of the governor’s entry in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, reports that young George began his education at the College de Navarre in Paris. In  Mrs. Izard and the children sailed for America to rejoin her husband in South Carolina. When his private tutor died, George was sent to a boarding school in Charleston, and later he studied at Columbia University and the College of Philadelphia, taking a bachelor ’s degree in , at the tender age of sixteen. Izard continued his studies in Europe, first in Britain, then in Germany,and finally in France,where he enrolled in the École du Génie. While in Paris, Izard was offered a lieutenancy in the U.S. Corps of Artillerists and Engineers,and he assumed the post in .He later oversaw construction of Fort Pinckney in South Carolina.Despite his youth, Izard held prominent posts in the army, including as aide de camp to  Gen. Alexander Hamilton. Later he became commander of the post at West Point, but he grew bored and resigned his commission. The War of  brought Izard back into the army, and he was quickly promoted to colonel and then brigadier general.On a cold day in January , Izard was promoted to major general and given command of the Northern Army on Lake Champlain. The Canadian front was a daunting assignment,and Izard proceeded cautiously.His retreat to winter quarters brought criticism,and again Izard resigned his commission . In  he published a detailed response to his critics. Izard had to be convinced to accept the governorship of a small territory just organized on the western frontier—Arkansas. He had hoped for a diplomatic post. Izard’s predecessor, James Miller, had been the first governor of territorial Arkansas. Miller was no match for the twenty-two-year-old territorial secretary, Robert Crittenden, who arrived in the state to find the governor missing and proceeded to assume control over the territory. Governor Miller spent much of his time back home in New Hampshire, finally resigning on the last day of . Territorial Arkansas was a political briar patch. For such a tiny place (the  population was ,), territorial Arkansas was overrun with ambitious young politicians who practiced warfare that involved taking no prisoners. Fist fights often broke out over trivial affronts, and Arkansas had its first duel in —only a year after the territory was created. Historian Michael B. Dougan has described it as “the era of personal politics.” Izard arrived in Arkansas in May .He was not happy with what he found. The territorial government was a shambles, with little in the way of records—and the acting governor, Secretary Crittenden, was back home in Kentucky. The two men were destined to become political foes, and it certainly did not help that Izard found the territory in such a sorry state. Izard was nothing if not an organizer, and he set about to bring some sort of order and development to the rugged territory. The governor sought federal funding for roads, then practically unknown in Arkansas.He worked hard to organize the territorial militia,for he feared that removal of eastern Indians through Arkansas would endanger the Gov. George Izard  state.While the militia had a large roster of distinguished officers,it was more form than fact. Izard’s unbending nature put him at odds with much of the political infrastructure...